On a Saturday afternoon, a small crowd gathers at One Holland Village mall to watch a juggler toss balls and clubs into the air in impressive patterns. Families and curious passers-by delight and clap as he pulls off trick after trick with a dancer's grace. Then, he brings out a balancing apparatus comprising a wooden board resting on a rolling cylinder, and adds a second tier with a second board and two buckets. The atmosphere changes once he gets on top of this contraption.Children who had been laughing and cheering moments before suddenly go quiet as the juggler climbs higher and higher. Parents and guardians look on, holding their breath as he finds his balance on the precarious apparatus.
A Cantonese martial arts theme blares through the speakers as the juggler shifts his weight carefully to the left, his calf muscles flexing visibly. He reaches for the neon-orange clubs attached to his harness behind him and sends them spinning around in an unbroken rhythm as he rocks on the board beneath him.The crowd erupts in applause and cheers.No other moment in the show better captures the highs and lows of Mr Wee Toon Hee's very unusual vocation than this climactic peak of a stunt. High risk indeed, but what a reward. With his thick black hair, brisk gait and infectious energy, combined with the physically demanding stunts he's capable of, it came as a surprise to learn that Mr Wee is 65 years old. When I arrived at the McDonald's outlet at East Coast Park on a separate day for our interview, he immediately set aside his phone to greet me with a broad smile and firm handshake. Affable and soft-spoken in a loose black T-shirt and trainers, he seemed far removed from someone who routinely attempts daring physical feats as Juggler H.Yet, when he's performing his signature stunt of juggling atop the double-tier Rola Bola apparatus, his brows quickly perspiring from the physical effort of maintaining perfect balance, Mr Wee commands his audience's attention with practised ease. There is no fear on his face, but even after nearly a decade of performing this particular trick, his heart still races each time."Some days, I'm very confident. Sometimes, I'm tired or a little weak," he said. "I'll tell you frankly – even until today, I'm still very scared when I'm up there." SEARCHING FOR A PASSION Before he was Juggler H – H is short for Hee in his name – Mr Wee had already lived several different lives.In the 1980s, after National Service, he was a deck cadet officer learning how to navigate ships. On voyages between Australia, Mauritius and China, he discovered that he was spectacularly unsuited to life on a ship. "For two weeks, you don't see land. But you see dolphins, whales and gigantic waves. Then, you vomit like crazy until you have nothing left," Mr Wee said animatedly.
